“What about leeches? And rasp snakes?”
“I’ll be fine,” she repeated, but wished Sedric hadn’t mentioned them. She wasn’t sure why he’d insisted on coming along in the small boat to explore the square of uniformly short reeds. She gritted her teeth and then scraped her bare foot, trying to discover what was beneath the mud. Sediment spun up to obscure her view. She rolled up her sleeves and reached in with both hands. The water over the sunken structure was shallow, barely knee-deep. But reaching to the bottom with her hands still meant nearly putting her face in the water. She dug at the mud and matted roots, and then ran her fingertips over what she’d exposed. Then she straightened up, dripping and grinning. “Mortar and stone. And the stone feels regular, as if it were cut and shaped and then put together.”
“So what is it? What have we found?”
When Leftrin had halted the Tarman and then ventured out in the small boat to investigate the patch of reeds, the dragons had paused and then come back to watch the humans. Now Mercor and two of the other dragons lumbered up to investigate for themselves. Mercor lifted a foot, tested his weight on the concealed surface, and then surged up out of the water to stand beside Alise. “Be careful!” she cried, alarmed. “It may give way.”
“It won’t,” he said shortly. “It was made to take a dragon’s weight.” He paced to the edge, turned, and then came back. “Somewhere here,” he said, and then, “Ah. Here.”
He hooked his claws into something, tugged, then grunted, “It’s stuck.”
“What is?” Alise demanded, and “What are you doing?” Leftrin demanded just as the dragon, with a roar of effort, pulled on something under the water.
The result was immediate. Alise gave a cry of fear as the mud and water under her feet suddenly warmed. A bluish light suffused the sunken rectangle unevenly, making the water clear as glass in some places but in others was blocked completely by straggling roots. Alise splashed hastily back toward the small boat as the water swiftly warmed around her. She seized the edge of it, and Leftrin, with no regard for her dignity, reached over the side and clutched her shirt collar and the waist of her trousers to haul her in. “Back away from it!” he shouted to Sedric, and the two men employed their paddles to move the boat away from the glowing and humming rectangle.
“Mercor, Mercor, be careful!” Alise shouted at him. But the dragon calmly lay down in the water. Ranculos and Sestican had already ventured to join him there, and the other dragons were moving slowly toward them.
Mercor stretched and spoke as if in a dream. “They’re not supposed to be underwater. Once, they stood on the grounds of some of the finest lakeside cottages. They were built for dragons, to welcome them when they chose to visit here. On cool evenings or rainy days, they made a warm and comfortable place for a dragon to stretch out.”
“Guest beds for dragons,” Alise said faintly.
“Um. You might call them that. Delightfully warm. Even now, the heat feels good.”
As Alise watched, Sestican lay down in the water. He heaved a sigh and stretched out. Around the dragons, the water had begun to shimmer with heat. Kalo clambered up onto the rectangle and found just enough space to join them. The other dragons drew closer, staring enviously and leaning as close to the warmth as they could. Streams of bubbles began to rise and break at the surface.
“Does this mean you know where we are? Are we close to Kelsingra? Was this place a part of it?” Alise shouted her questions to the blissful dragons.
Beside her, Sedric yawned suddenly. “You’ll get no sense out of them,” he said quietly. “The warmth is something they’ve been craving for a long time. They’re nearly stupefied with it.”
And indeed, they reminded Alise of cows more than dragons as they crowded together, leaning against one another. Even Sedric had begun to breathe more slowly and deeply. Alise stared at him in horrified fascination. His eyes were beginning to droop closed.
“What’s the matter—” Leftrin began, but she placed a restraining hand on his arm. She leaned closer to Sedric. “Does Relpda remember this place?”
He sighed. “There were lots of places like this. Elderlings wanted to welcome the dragons. They competed for dragon favor, and to get the attention of the most powerful ones, wealthy Elderlings spared no efforts in accommodating their large guests.”
“So there were many of these dragon beds?”
It took longer for him to respond. “Not in the city. Kelsingra had an entire plaza that remained warm. But at the country homes of wealthy Elderlings, or at the dwelling places of Elderlings who lived on the northern islands or even farther north, there would be places for dragons to be comfortable.” He opened his eyes and tried to focus them. He took a deeper breath, and his voice changed slightly as he seemed to come back to them. “At Trehaug, there were chambers with glassed-in ceilings, places large enough for dragons to enter. They were kept warm for them when they visited. The Elderlings grew beautiful plants in them and had fountains.”